UX Design
Design System
Helping early-career students find their footing in tech
Redesigning AtSquareOne's website to clearly communicate value, build trust, and convert overwhelmed job seekers into engaged members.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Timeline
Nov 2026 - Jan 2026
Team
PM
Engineer
Marketing
Contribution
User Research
Wire-framing & Prototyping
Stakeholder Workshop
IMPACT
Measurable goals driving the redesign
+35%
Monthly Active Users
+23%
System Usability Score
+70%
Homepage Conversion
+30%
Membership Conversion
CONTEXT
The early-career job search is broken
73% of recent CS graduates feel overwhelmed and unsure where to start. The average entry-level tech role receives 250+ applications, and only 52% of 2024 graduates found full-time work within 6 months of graduation — down from 68% in 2022.
​
AtSquareOne exists to bridge that gap: a nonprofit offering role-specific coaching, resume review, interview prep, and community for students in SDE, DE, DA, and BA tracks. The service was not the issue. The website was. Users were coming in, getting lost, and walking away.
PROBLEM
Three barriers stopping users from converting
After interviewing 20 students and recent graduates and running usability sessions on the existing site, three core pain points emerged consistently.
01
Unclear value proposition
Users couldn't tell if AtSquareOne was a job board, a bootcamp, a resume service, or a coaching program. Key service details were buried 70% down the page.
02
No trust signals
No mentor profiles, no verifiable testimonials, no transparent pricing. Users had no evidence that the service was legitimate or effective.
03
Felt too generic
Content looked identical to free career advice on social media. Users couldn't see what made AtSquareOne worth paying for over free alternatives.
"I feel like this company does provide some service, but I don't really understand what they do based on the homepage."
— Henry, research participant
​RESEARCH
Who we were designing for
We interviewed 20 students and recent graduates across CS, data science, and business analytics programs — ranging from actively job searching to recently placed.
Alex Chen
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
500+ Applications Sent
4 Interviews Landed
4 Months into Job Search
"I've applied to over 500 jobs and heard back from two. I know I'm capable — I just don't know how to show it on paper."
Overwhelmed
No Network
Conflicting Advice Online
​Needs Mental Support
Motivated But Lost
SOLUTIONS
Three design decisions that changed the experience
SOLUTION 01
Restructure around services, not subjects
The old navigation organized content by subject area (Data Science, Computer Science), leading with who we target rather than what we provide, which created confusion.
We restructured the information architecture around what AtSquareOne actually does — surfacing services and outcomes directly on the homepage. Key differentiators moved from the bottom of the page to above the fold.
SOLUTION 02
Design trust into every touchpoint
The website had little information on past students, outcomes, or social proof.
Redesigned with a full mentor story, student transformation narratives (before and after SquareOne), and a money-back guarantee — a strategic decision made with the PM and marketing team after research identified financial risk as a key conversion barrier.
SOLUTION 03
Prove the differentiation explicitly
Users couldn't see why AtSquareOne was worth paying for when free resources existed everywhere.
We reframed the service around what made it genuinely distinct: peer coaches who had recently navigated the same job market, an understanding of what companies actually want, and real human accountability.
Users couldn't find resources relevant to their specific role or situation — and with free content everywhere, there was no clear reason to trust AtSquareOne over anything else.
A tag-based filter system and free resources section were added so users could find relevant content instantly and experience AtSquareOne's methodology before committing.
PROCESS
How we got there
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
INITIAL DESIGN
​USABILITY TESTING & ITERATION
What we learned from testing, and what we changed
We ran usability tests with participants matching our target persona — early-career students and recent graduates actively job searching. Testing surfaced clear wins alongside three significant friction points that drove a second round of design iteration.
What Worked
Credible first impression. Users described the interface as clean and easy to scan. The card-based layout immediately read as more trustworthy.
Pricing + nonprofit status. Transparent pricing paired with the nonprofit identity emerged as the strongest differentiator.
Core Service was understood. Users correctly identified the core offerings. Testimonials and real student case studies meaningfully boosted credibility.
Key Pain Points
Unclear service boundaries. Users repeatedly asked "Do they submit applications for me?" and "What does 90% success rate mean?"
The human element was missing. Users needed to see who was behind the service before committing.
Tone felt cold and uninviting. Users noted the color palette and typography made the interface feel distant.
What we changed in the iteration
Clarify service boundaries with a step-by-step process
Reframed the service page around what users will receive — a concrete, step-by-step overview of what happens after signing up.
Strengthen trust with visible people
Added coach and mentor profile cards with photos, credentials, and background summaries. Moved the Success Stories section into the main navigation. Expanded testimonials to include an entire narrative
Shift tone to warmer and more approachable
The clean, professional aesthetic was reading as cold and distant. We adjusted the visual language toward a warmer, more peer-like tone.
DESIGN SYSTEM
Building a foundation for consistency at scale
As the redesign matured, it became clear the site lacked a shared visual language. Components were inconsistent across pages. We addressed this by establishing a formal design system before handoff.
Brand Style Guide
Established unified rules for typography, color, and spacing to align the new brand identity consistently across the entire product, while ensuring all color and contrast choices meet WCAG AA accessibility standards.
Shared Component Library
Identified and standardized 13 frequently-used components across the site into a reusable library, reducing design debt and giving engineers a clear reference for implementation.
FINAL DESIGN
RETROSPECTIVE
What I'll carry forward
This project reinforced something I'll bring into every conversion-focused problem: clarity and trust are not the same thing. We solved clarity early — the service was easy to understand after the information architecture restructure. Trust took longer, and it lived in details we almost deprioritized: coach photos, specific timelines on testimonials, a money-back guarantee.
Missing the emotional mark
Our first designs were polished but distant. For a user who's been rejected hundreds of times, distance reads as risk. I'd define emotional criteria earlier next time — not just usability criteria.
Metrics aren't the whole story
I'd advocate for a stronger post-launch research plan from the start. Conversion metrics went up, but understanding the decision moment is something numbers alone can't answer.
WHAT'S NEXT
Where the work goes next
SEO Refinement
​Audit existing content for target keyword alignment, improve semantic structure across headers and metadata.
A/B Testing the Funnel
Test CTA copy and placement variationis on the homepage to continue optimizing the conversion funnel with data.
Post-Launch Interviews
Run qualitative interviews with new sign-ups to understand what actually triggered conversion.